WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — The U.S. Postal Service will proceed with a plan to move mail sorting operations for Upper Valley communities from White River Junction to Connecticut, according to a USPS facilities study released this week.

The plan is estimated to eliminate up to 23 positions in White River Junction and save up to $940,000 a year by reorganizing the White River Junction post office, a processing and distribution center that serves 150 post offices in New Hampshire and Vermont, including all Upper Valley communities.

Under the plan, which has been criticized by Upper Valley residents, politicians postal employees, outgoing mail from area post offices will now be sent from White River Junction to Hartford, Conn., for sorting.

The White River Junction and Connecticut facilities are 144 miles apart, requiring an additional travel time of nearly three hours each way. Such time increases could potentially delay mail delivery by a day or more, postal employees said at a March public forum about the project..

Mail handlers are worried that additional delivery delays will further discourage people from using the mail system, Dan St. Marie, president of the National Postal Mail Handlers Union of New England, or Local 301, said this week.

USPS has experienced a steady decline nationwide in mail volume delivery in the last decade, from 213 billion units in 2006 to 116 billion units in 2023, according to USPS data.

“Even though 1st class mail is declining, we’re still talking about a billion pieces (of mail),” St. Marie said in a phone interview. “We’re worried that it could decline faster (under this plan).”

The White River Junction plan is part of USPS’s 10-year nationwide reorganization strategy, called Delivery for America, an initiative by USPS, aimed to improve efficiency and lower operating costs.

USPS has studied facilities across the county to determine the logistics of shifting mail processing operations of smaller regional hubs to larger facilities that would be provided with additional staff and sorting equipment to handle mail and packages of multiple regions.

The recent study estimated that of the 23 positions at White River Junction that could be eliminated as a result of the restructuring plan, including 13 mail handlers, five processing clerks, four maintenance workers and one manager. The plan estimates a net reduction of six employees, after factoring in new positions added in Connecticut.

The actual employee reductions in White River Junction may end up significantly less than the study’s projection, Stephen Doherty, a USPS communications specialist, said in a phone interview.

“I have yet to see a plan that went from concept to implementation without being tweaked numerous times along the way,” said Doherty, a postal employee of 30 years.

The plan intends to add new services at White River Junction, including package shipping. The staffing needs of these added operations were not factored in the study, Doherty said.

The reorganization will not result in any layoffs of full-time employees. Some positions would be lost to attrition, while other employees might be switched to different positions that would be created as part of the restructuring, Doherty said.

The plan is estimated to save up to $600,000 a year in maintenance costs and staffing reductions, Up to $340,000 in annual savings are projected by reducing the total number of mail shipments between postal facilities in the region.

The timetable for implementation of the White River Junction plan is still unknown, but it could take a year or longer, said Doherty. Many postal facilities will need major infrastructure or equipment upgrades to accommodate staffing or operational changes.

Patrick Adrian may be reached at padrian@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.